First Leg

My roadtrip has begun and I am writing this from the shores of Lake Superior in northern WI. My family takes a yearly camping trip here and I try to join whenever possible. I arrived on Wednesday night after a long day of driving and such. I started Wednesday by leaving Sonja's place in the NW suburbs of Chicago right during rush hour. I had been lulled into a false sense of security by having driven all the way across Chicagoland the night before right during PM rush hour, with no problems whatsoever. Construction on 53 ground me to a halt and, realizing that I had a long way of stop and go traffic to go, I decided to take my chances with the surface streets. These moved well for me and quickly deposited me at I-90. Unfortunately all ramps were present, except the one I needed, WB onramp. This was exceedingly frustrating, but not nearly so much as when I drove to the next interchange and encountered the same problem. I ended up having to drive several miles on surface streets and probably wasted a bunch of time.

I did get to Wausau by 3, with a short stop in Madison to go to the bank and consume some BMSS, Big Mike's Super Subs...I know they changed their name years ago, but they will always be BMSS to me.

I piddled around the homestead for several hours unloading superfluous stuff from Gina and reloading with firewood and finally got going, Waldo included, around 7. Route 13 is a long lonely drive up through the northwoods and I quite like it. It's very relaxing, pretty and pleasant.

The campground where we stay is right on the lake and the views are spectacular. The water is also delicious and a quick swim reminded me how much I missed fresh water, especially Superior. We also went up to a beach further up the peninsula that has some even better views.

My trip began on Monday, after delaying my departure for over 30 hours due to many extenuating circumstances. I finally go on the road around noon, but NYC, the jealous whore she is, still wouldn't let me go. Traffic on the BQE was worse than ever. I go into Lancaster around quarter after 4 and hung out with Bill for awhile before moving on to Harrisburg to meet some frisbee players for dinner. I finally left Harrisburg, 20 oz coffee and 1.5 lb bag of chocolate covered espresso beans in hand, around 9:30. I took the Turnpike across PA and then cut over into OH on back roads. It was the last night of the Perseids meteor shower and I took my chance to pull off the highway and lay on the roof of my van watching the spectacular stars and meteors. The stars are something that I have been missing since I moved to PA two years ago, and I have taken every chance I get to gawk at decent stars.

I made it until 4 AM when I finally had to pass out in the middle of nowhere OH. I was abruptly woken an hour later by a sheriff at my window. Turns out that the little gravel area along the road was actually private property, and the residents were wondering what some sketchball was doing in their driveway. When I checked out fine they were friendly enough and pointed me in the right direction for some other places to crash.

The next few hours were pretty rough as I tried to get a few miles under my belt between each subsequent nap. Mid morning I finally got my shit together and didn't have to sleep again until I reached Sonja's around 6 PM. A warm shower, hot dinner and early bed were all very welcome.